“Where’d he go?!” Brian cried in alarm, waving his hand in the space that his cousin had been two seconds before.

Everyone was stupefied, except for Joey. He studied the air, and came to a conclusion.

“Transportation.”

“What?”

“His power is Transportation,” he said simply, as if that would explain everything.

“But…but…” Brian spluttered.

“Where did he GO?” Nick asked, coming out of his stupor.

“I don’t know. JC?”

The brunette nodded, and focused on Kevin. He had never done Telepathy with Kevin, and that only made it harder, for he wasn’t familiar with his mind. JC’s conscious scanned over the area. Then he scanned it over again, and as far as he could in vain. Beads of sweat were forming on his tensed forehead. Then he caught it.

“Found him!” he cried in triumph.

“WHERE?!”

“Wait.”

JC focused again, and said, ‘Kevin.’

There was a pause, and JC knew it was because Kevin was startled. When he replied, his voice was soft and distant.

‘What? Who-?’

‘JC. Where are you?’

‘I’m at…home’

‘What? As in…?’

‘Kentucky’

+ + +

“WHAT?!” Brian exclaimed. “KENTUCKY?! What are you, insane?”

“Transport back,” Joey said softly.

Despite the softness of his voice, everyone heard him. Joey gave JC directions to give to Kevin.

‘Kevin. Ok you can Transport back. First get into that state of mind again, then you gotta say, ‘Teleport; park’ and think very hard about the park we’re at, ok?’

‘I hope I can do this. You won’t leave me, will you?’

‘I have to. In order for it to work, you can’t have any mental interference. If you’re not here in a few minutes, I’ll come back’

‘Ok’ Kevin sighed.

‘Go’

There was not a sound from the seven adults there in the park, not even breathing. They waited anxiously and bit their lips.

“Kevin!”

Everyone turned to see a stiff and scared Kevin standing on top of the wooden picnic table, hands tightly at his sides and eyes closed, his eyebrows giving him a fixed look.

He cracked an eye open, and almost collapsed in relief as he jumped down from the table, Brian giving him a gigantic hug.

“Why didn’t you warn me?” Kevin asked Joey.

“I didn’t know you had Teleportation.”

“Whatever. Who’s next?”

After that display, everyone was quite antsy and nervous.

“I’ll do it,” Brian volunteered, standing from his seat.

“Duh. You’re the only other one,” Justin rolled his eyes.

Joey ignored him. “Ok you know what you have to do?”

He nodded. “Yeah.”

“Ok then.”

After the calm had set into his mind, Brian whispered, “Nobility.”

He disappeared.

“Brian?”

“There!” Nick cried, being closest to where Brian had stood.

In Brian’s place was a pug.

Nick started to laugh. And he didn’t stop.

“Oh my god! If only my dogs could be here to see this!”

‘Brian’ snarled at his blonde ‘friend’.

“Hey! Aren’t you supposed to be man’s best friend?”

The pug sat down indignantly. Then it got up and sat at Nick’s feet.

“See?” Nick said to everyone as he pet the dog’s fur. “It’s Brian.”

Everyone rolled their eyes until Nick cried out, “WHAT THE FUCK?!” He jumped up, his leg raised.

The pug trotted away from Nick almost smugly.

“He peed on me!”

Everyone burst out laughing. And if it were possible, it seemed that Brian was smiling a pug smile. In an instant, Brian was himself again, and holding his stomach.

“What goes around comes around,” JC whispered to Justin.

“Shape-Shift,” Joey said, speculating and grinning. “Cool. So we’ve got the natural elements, and we’ve got Telepathy, Invisibility, Shape-Shift, Transportation, and Telekinesis. We need two more natural elements.”

“And who could that be?”

Everyone shrugged. Again JC was bothered by the constant nagging in his conscience. Then he remembered- he had work.

“Oh shoot. I gotta go to work,” JC said, getting up to his feet. “I’ll meet you guys later. Bye!”

Everyone stared as he started to run, but realized he had to no car.

“Uh…Joe?”

+ + +

“JC! Glad you could make it,” Lance said, eyebrow cocked as he sat at the head of a table.

“Sorry…” JC panted, having run in from the car. “I had other things and I lost track of time.”

“Oh I see, well, please. Join us.” Lance gestured to the seat next to AJ.

The lyricist smirked and turned back to Lance.

The blonde was now conferring with a young woman- Christina- about her new album. She was a rising star, already making it big. This was her third album, and she was making sure it was a hit.

“I want to use “Forever”,” she said, pointing to the stack of lyrics for the song. “And “’Cause You’re Watching”…what do you think?”

“Whatever you want.”

AJ and JC chuckled. Lance was absolutely smitten with Christina. He never sat THAT close to a client.

“Ok um…”

“AJ, JC, what do you think?” Lance asked.

“Um I have a song, but I think it’s more for the guys than girls,” JC said, unsure.

“What is it?” Christina asked.

“It’s called Digital Getdown.”

“How does it go?”

So he sang the chorus for her:

Digital, digital getdown
Just you and me
We may be 20,000 miles away
But I can see ya
And baby, baby you can see me
Digital, digital getdown
Just what we need
We can get together naturally
Or we can get together on the digital screen…

“That sounds cool!” Christina smiled. “I think I’ll do it. As long as I get to make a request.”

“What?” JC asked, hoping she’d ask an easy thing.

“That you sing with me.”

“Serious?” JC gaped. That was easier than he thought.

“Serious. This will be fun.” The young blonde smiled.

‘And was that a glare of jealousy JC received?’ AJ thought. He chuckled. ‘You go JC…you go…’

“Ok. I’ll do it,” JC smiled.

“Cool.”

“Oh shoot I’ve got a meeting with another client, um can we meet some other time?” Lance asked, checking his watch. In 5 minutes he’d have to meet with Aaron Carter.

“Duh Lance. I’m here tomorrow! Where’s your head been lately?” she joked, gathering the sheets of paper.

“The stress has been getting to me.”

“Oh poor Lance. Well, I better be going. Don’t wanna make you late! I’ll see you all tomorrow?”

“Yup. Nine right on the dot.”

“Later then.”

She took the copy of all the songs and left the office. And Lance really did look stressed.

“Hey Lance what’s wrong with you? That’s more than stressed.” AJ had a look of concern on his face.

“Nothin. I didn’t have the best of rest last night.”

He knew it was wrong, but he was curious. He tapped into Lance’s mind, his emotions, and saw that he had the dream again.

“Nightmares? I hate nightmares. Keep me up all night,” JC said, shaking his head.

Lance and AJ looked at JC in surprise.

“How’d you know?”

“What else could it have been?” JC asked innocently.

“I could been drinking, fighting with someone, someone could have died, I could’ve had insomnia…” Lance trailed off, remember what AJ had said about him being one of the Ten.

“Oh,” JC replied feebly. “Well then that was what came into my mind.”

“Just tell us Jace. How did you know?” AJ asked straightforwardly.

“What are you talking about?” JC asked, scooting his office chair back a little bit.

“You knew about the dream before. How?” AJ continued with his torture, his gaze never wavering. “Not like we’re going to report you…we’re just…interested.”

“I don’t know WHAT you’re talking about. I’m leaving.”

“Do you have a ring or not?” AJ said calmly, but full of warning and power as he stood up and slapped his hand on the table. Not too loud, but enough to make JC jump.

“R-ring?”

Lance slapped his forehead inwardly. God, screw AJ.

“One of these,” AJ said, pulling out his red one.

JC’s eyes widened in recognition. “You…you’re the two…oh my god.” JC whipped out his cell phone and pressed a number on speed dial.

AJ became horrified, and leapt at the older man.

“Chris I- aah!” JC grunted, hitting the floor with AJ in a tangled heap.

In seconds his cell phone was across the room, broken. He tried to get up, but AJ whacked him down again. JC kneed AJ off him and got back on his feet, bruises starting to form.

“What the hell are you doing?” JC growled, storming painfully for his cell phone.

Then he was down on the ground again, his back pounding in pain. He groaned, his eyes shut tight. Thump…thump…thump… The agony came in waves over his tense body. He could hear his cell phone being stomped on.

“What the fuck are you doing?!” the blue eyed man cried out, scrabbling back to his feet painfully. He cried out when his back almost gave out on him.

“What the hell were you thinking?” AJ yelled, waving his arms.

“I was THINKING that you and him,” JC pointed to Lance, standing in the corner, trying hard to be inconspicuous, “are the last two we need!”

“Well we’re not coming!” AJ swiftly kicked JC off his feet.

The brunette moaned in pain; his shoulder was sure to be fractured, dislocated, something. All he knew was the spreading fire in his shoulder, and it was getting worse by the second.

“Whoever you are, whoever you’re with, tell them we’re not coming.”

“Look AJ,” JC tried, forcing him up on his good arm.

“Stay down.”

With a grunt, the older man set himself down again. “I’m not trying to make any trouble! I just need to get to a phone to talk to Chris.”

“Who’s Chris?”

“My friend. He’ll help you.”

“Help us? Help us what?” AJ demanded.

JC clenched his teeth. There was a new pain in his leg. From what he didn’t know, but it hurt like hell. Then, through the fire in his body, he figured it out.

'Help you with your powers’

AJ looked bewildered for a moment. Then he looked down at JC. “You?”

JC could only grimace.

‘Yeah. Help me’

“Why do you need to call?” AJ continued.

“Because…we have the other eight…we just need YOU,” JC spat, his throbbing body protesting against the pressure from the ground. “With you, we have ten.”

AJ was shocked and flabbergasted at this. He hurried to JC and pulled him up.

“SHIT my arm!” he cried out, his hand instantly on the wound.

“Oh man I really banged you up didn’t I?”

“Like hell you did,” JC said through clenched teeth.

“Get a doctor,” Lance said. “Get them to come HERE, NOW.”

“Right on it boss,” AJ said, walking briskly to the door. He made sure to shut it completely.

“Where do you hurt?” Lance asked the aching man in the fortunately soft office chair.

“Everywhere.”

“No where does the pain come from?”

“My shoulder…my back…ugh my back…and my leg…”

“Do you think anything’s broken?” Lance asked, anxious.

“My back…help me god my back!” JC cried, tears stinging his eyes, his body writhing in excruciating pain.

“Don’t move,” Lance jumped immediately. “Move, and you’ll make it worse.”

“I need to call Chris,” JC rasped, wincing and grabbing his shoulder. “I need to tell him.”

“Not now. You’re hurt.”

“I just called him,” AJ announced, coming back into the room. “Hey Lance, what about Aaron?”

“Go take care of him. Tell him that he can record songs with Jake. We have bigger things.”

“Gotcha.”

“You’re on the good side?” Lance asked wearily.

“Yeah, I am. Maybe AJ misunderstood me and attacked, right?”

“Yeah. He does that a lot.”

“Sorry bout that.”

“Well you’re the one about to get a sling.”

JC smiled weakly.

“Well, I think we will go with you.”

“Oh good. Everyone would kill me if they found out I let you two slip through my fingers.”

Lance chuckled. “Well, why don’t you tell me what’s goin on?”

So be began with the legend of Crystalon, and right as he started to talk about the present, the doctor stepped in. And at that moment, all the pain he had felt before (but had forgotten due to the story) came crashing back into his system, and he clenched his teeth.

“Ooh this looks bad. What happened?”

“I almost got turned into a potato salad.”

“Well if you can joke you might be ok,” the doctor said, opening his bag. He didn’t open it far, for he noticed JC’s extreme suffering. “Well boys, looks like we’re gonna be at the hospital today.”

JC tensed up even more when he thought about the shots. He hated shots with a passion, and fears needles. Just the thought of the tip penetrating his skin, going into his blood…it was enough to make him scream.

“Ok.”

+ + +

“JC? JC?!” Chris yelled, shaking the phone wildly. But the connection was dead.

His fingers flew over the buttons on his phone, and waited impatiently.

“JUSTIN! Where’s JC?” Chris shouted.

“Whoa where’s the fire?” Justin said, ear ringing from the scream.

“He called me, and before he could say anything, the line went dead.”

“He’s at work,” Justin said immediately. “What’s wrong? What happened?”

“I’ll get you in a few. Too little time to ask for directions.”

+ + +

“Where’s JC Chasez?” Chris demanded the secretary.

“He’s not here right now.”

“Where is he then?” Justin asked.

“He was taken by Lance Bass and AJ McLean to the hospital near here.”

“Hospital?” Justin cried, suddenly worried about his friend. “What happened?”

“He seemed to be in great pain.”

“Give me the directions!”

Once they got all the information they needed, they ran for the car, revved the engine, and burned rubber.

With the squeal of tires and unbuckling of seatbelts, Justin and Chris ran inside the hospital, looking for another secretary. They asked for where JC was, but she said they were unable to see him.

“You’re looking for JC?” a platinum blonde asked.

They turned around.

“What do you know about JC?” Chris asked back, his eyes narrowing in suspicion.

“I’m AJ McLean. We brought JC here,” he said, pointing to a blonde on a bench.

“What happened?”

AJ looked embarrassed and rubbed the back of his neck. “Well I kinda…beat him up.”

“What?!”

“I thought he was reporting us to the police…”

“For what?” Justin cried.

“First, are any of you Chris?” AJ asked.

The older man raised his hand. “That’s me.”

AJ stepped closer and whispered, “I told him about our rings, because I thought he also had one. And I thought he was calling so he could report us…”

“Oh dear lord,” Justin rolled his eyes, collapsing down onto a cold hard bench. “How stupid-”

“You would’ve done the same!” he snapped.

“AJ don’t start fights now,” Lance’s voice drifted over.

“Who’s that?”

“Lance. My boss- the founder of FreeLance Entertainment,” AJ introduced.

“Oh I know you,” Justin said, recognizing his face all at once. “I saw a picture of you and that Meredith chick.”

“Yeah she’s one of my clients.”

A doctor came by to Lance, and he stood up. Justin jumped to his feet.

As soon as he left, Chris and Justin crowded around the blonde.

“What did he say?”

“He says that one of his vertebrae bone things is cracked, and his shoulder was disconnected, and they’re popping it back in right now…and his legs are bruised. Looks like AJ would be a good body guard,” Lance said, glaring at the slightly older man, who blushed.

“Well soorry! I didn’t know!”

“Alright anyway, he’s gonna have to wear a sling for like two days, and he didn’t tell me about his back…”

“Can we see him?” Justin asked hopefully.

“Not quite yet, but soon. He’ll come back.”

“Ug…”

“You are the other two?” Chris asked, looking at them both.

“In the flesh,” AJ said, crossing his arms.

“Just what we need,” Chris smiled, taking out his cell phone.

“Another one. Do I have to break this one too?” AJ joked, hoping to ease his blame.

“No, not quite. Hello? Nick? I found em.”

“Who?”

“The other two.”

“Oh my god.” There was a pause as the young blonde shouted out the news to the inhabitants of the space ship. “Where?”

“We’re at the hospital.”

“Hospital?”

“Yeah. Seems that AJ here mistook JC’s cell phone call as reporting, and he beat him up.”

“Sounds like I shouldn’t get on his bad side.”

“True. But we’ll be back later. See ya.”

“Bye.”

“This has been a long day,” Chris sighed, plopping down heavily on the bench.

“And it ain’t even dinner yet!” Justin added.

+ + +

His papers flying into his already packed briefcase, an energized Nick Carter hurried to get out of the building. It was finally time for him to leave, and for once he was relieved.

“Whoa Nick you seem to be in a hurry,” Colleen, his partner said, spotting him from down the hall.

“Sorry, big things, friend, hospital. NOW,” he said, hoping to get her away from him. The girl never stopped asking questions.

“What happened? Who’s hurt? When did this happen?”

“Sorry, can’t talk right now,” Nick said, hurrying and pulling off his frameless glasses. “Gotta get home.”

“I’ll drive.”

“NO, you can’t. I’ve got a ride.”

“Who?”

“Uh…Neb. She’s coming…right now,” Nick said, pressing the “pager” he was given. The signal was sent, and she’d be there in moments, using the teleportation techniques that the Crystalon had developed.

“Who’s she?” Colleen pressed, matching his fast stride.

She obviously didn’t get the idea.

“Colleen? I’ll talk to you later. LATER. I gotta go.” Nick opened the door quickly and searched for Nebula’s familiar car.

It was a transportation pod with a hologram of a car over it. The designers had to revamp the pod to be as close to a structure of a car as possible- putting in seats and doors and a useless steering wheel so they would be inconspicuous while getting in and out of the pod. They only used it for the purpose of the pager, and this was one of those times.

At last, the silver Beamer emerged through the traffic. Nick finally noticed that through the whole 5 minutes Colleen was talking.

“What?” Nick asked absentmindedly, walking toward the car.

“Hey Nick, c’mon. They said that he is getting visitors. Can’t start the party without us,” Nebula said, remembering to talk like a regular young Earthling.

“Hey girl wassup?” Nick said, clambering into the Beamer and giving her kiss on the cheek. “I’ll explain later,” he muttered to her shocked face.

Nebula nodded numbly and turned out of the parking lot, ignoring the questions fired at the blonde beside her. She concentrated on one thing: Get to the hospital.

The car ride was silent for the most part, until she said, “So…explain.”

“Sorry, it’s just that Colleen is kinda…well she likes me, to put it lightly.”

“And heavily would be…?”

“Funny. Well, another thing is that she doesn’t shut up. I mean, she may be brilliant in marine biology and everything, and has all these aspects for it, but man…that mouth of hers is never closed unless she’s eating!” Nick shook his head, sighing.

Nebula giggled. “I see. Well, Kevin I know is over there. At the hospital I mean. He feels as if he owes JC something I think. That’s what he said. You know, for the time at the park the other day.”

“Ah…when the Transportation went wrong?”

“Yes, that’s it. He wants to make sure he gets better.”

“Well, wouldn’t our mission be pointless if he doesn’t?” Nick asked.

“Well…yes, but that isn’t the point Nick.”

“Yeah whatever. So what do we do after we get all of us together and everything?”

“First we prepare, you know, practicing our powers and such, then we shall leave for Crystalon.”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, Princess, back up.” Nick sat up in attention. “What are you talking about ‘leaving for Crystalon’?”

“We’re going to get my- our- planet back.”

“So…how do we do that?”

“Haven’t thought that far.”

“That helps.”

“Yes well, I’m working hard on it. Karienne says we have enough fuel for the trip. She’s fixing up the ship as we speak, just for the journey.” Nebula stopped the pod at the nearest parking spot and shut off the engine.

“Karienne is that red-haired girl, right?”

“If you want to put it that way, yes…” Nebula locked the “vehicle” and turned on the security alarms. “Lets go.”

The two made haste for the building ahead of them, anxious to get to JC, and to meet the last two Chosen Ones. Within 5 minutes, they were in the same waiting room that Lance and AJ were.

“Nick!”

They searched for the source of the voice, and found Justin’s hair standing out in the crowd. The two walked over briskly.

“Any news?”

“He’s talking to AJ and Lance,” Chris said.

Now they were sitting in a tight circle, so no one could hear them. But that didn’t mean no one could see them. They were getting weird looks from the people around them.

“So…how’s he doin?” Nick asked.

“He’s got a dislocated shoulder- they already popped it back in-”

“What so they just “popped” it back in?” Nick said, looking disgusted and scared. “Wouldn’t that hurt?”

“They’ve got him on drugs.”

“Does he need any more?” Justin muttered.

Nebula hit the man on the arm, “That’s not nice. The least you can do is offer support.”

Chris snickered at Justin’s expression.

“Sorry.”

“Hey group meeting?” a raspy voice broke through the circle, the strong tattooed arms making a break between Chris and Justin. The sunglasses clad man looked up to see the newcomers. “Hey. Who’s this lovely lady?”

“Someone who wants to know about the man who you just visited. How’s he doing?” she asked, crossing her legs, adorning studded flares.

Lance bit back the slightest clue of a laugh. AJ looked shocked, but hid it well. However, Lance hadn’t been AJ’s employer and friend for years and didn’t know anything about him.

“Oh yeah he’s fine. I’m AJ,” he said, holding out his hand.

“Nebula.” The shake was short.

“Neb, AJ and Lance right there are the other two.” Justin pointed to Lance, who was standing away from AJ.

“Oh hi,” she said, with interest.

“Oh so NOW you pay attention to me?” AJ joked, grabbing a chair.

“I don’t like guys who put themselves out there first meeting,” she said simply.

“Yeah, she likes Derrick,” Nick mocked, elbowing her side.

“Oh please Nick don’t be such a child and grow up,” Nebula said. “I don’t see you with a girlfriend.”

“Ooh.”

The young blonde blushed and kept quiet.

“So can we see him?” Justin asked, standing.

“Yeah. He’s all yours. He might a lil…tipsy after those drugs,” AJ said, his grin lighting his face.

Justin and Chris laughed, leaving eagerly for the hospital room.

“Alright so you are the bearers of Fire and Earth,” Nebula said, looking at them both critically. “AJ I believe you have Fire, and Lance you have Earth. Am I right?”

The two men nodded.

“Oh yeah I’m good,” she said, breaking out into an Earthling girl stint.

Nick laughed. “Still hate Earth?”

“Did I ever SAY that?”

“Well, no but-”

“Ha.”

AJ looked at Nebula to Nick. Then back again. “Is there something I should know?”

“Neb comes from Crystalon,” Nick said.

“Ah huh…interesting.”

Lance looked confused. “Crystalon?”

“Yeah. My home planet.”

“Looks like there’s a lot of holes in this story,” Lance said, scratching his head.

“We’ll tell you when we get JC outta here,” Nick said. He looked up and saw Justin and Chris emerging from the room.

“Let’s go.”

Nick and Nebula went into JC’s room, and found him lying still, in sleep.

“This sucks. We’re last and he falls asleep on us,” Nick said, coming up to examine his wounds.

“This looks bad,” Nebula speculated, pointing to his shoulder. It was red, with splotches of purple, already in a sling.

“Damn.”

“I’ve come to a conclusion,” Nebula said, looking around at the white walls, plain tables, and equipment. “I don’t like hospitals very much.”